ICC World Cup 2019 | India the favourites for winning the World Cup, feels Dimuth Karunaratne
Dimuth Karunaratne has stated that India’s various combinations and consistent performances have made them the team with the best chance of lifting the trophy. He also discussed the sensational form of Rohit Sharma, certain aspects of the match and Lasith Malinga post his last ever World Cup game.
Sri Lanka could not end their World Cup campaign on the note that they would have liked to as they succumbed to a seven-wicket loss to India in their final group stage game. While their performance could have been better, the Men in Blue were clinical in taking the chances that came their way and performed excellently in each department to secure a win. Such stability has helped them end the group stages with the most points and makes them the favourites in the Sri Lankan captain’s view.
"Every team is doing well but if you take the balanced side, India is a good balanced side. They have nice spinners, fast bowlers and top-order batting line-up keep scoring hundreds. So India have a better chance of winning the World Cup, from my point of view," Dimuth Karunaratne said during the post-match press conference, reported Firstpost.
After a brilliant start by Indian pacers restricted the Lions to 55/4, Angelo Matthews and Lahiru Thirimanne built a steady partnership to guide their team to a defendable target of 265. However, the way the Indian openers batted, the island nation never really looked like having a chance as KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma put up 189-stand for the first wicket.
"They bowled really well. (Jasprit) Bumrah and Bhuvneshwar (Kumar) started really well and even the spinners; they kept on bowling at the good areas and made us to mistakes. They never gave us a loose ball when we were batting. And when we were bowling, Rohit and Rahul, they were doing fearless batting and kept scoring big runs. We could not squeeze them at that time that was the main thing," Karunaratne said.
Rohit Sharma has been in sensational form in the tournament and is the leading run scorer. He has five centuries to his name in eight games and now holds several world records to his name. He has proved to be an inspiration not only in India but in the entire subcontinent and possibly the world.
"Every time he gets a start, he keeps scoring big runs. He was fearless and he knows how he is going to get a hundred. He knows at what time he wants to take a charge and what bowlers. Those are the little things, he has mastered really well. For youngsters, he is an ideal character to watch him and learn something from him," Karunaratne said about Sharma.
Amidst the several regrets that Sri Lanka will have about the defeat, one will certainly be not helping out Lasith Malinga end his World Cup career on a winning note. The veteran pacer has 56 World Cup wickets, the third most by a bowler and is an absolute legend of the game.
"We all want to give him a nice farewell, but unfortunately we couldn't. But I think we tried really hard. But Mali (Malinga) is going to play another couple of games in Sri Lanka against Bangladesh. We'll try to give a nice send-off at that time," the captain concluded.